


Little Secrets

by carolinecrane



Category: Deadliest Catch RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-30
Updated: 2010-09-30
Packaged: 2017-10-12 07:59:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/122668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carolinecrane/pseuds/carolinecrane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josh hates these stupid meet and greets.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Little Secrets

Josh hates these stupid meet and greets. Some of the others eat them up – Sig's the worst, Johnathan's pretty bad too – but he's never seen the point. Yeah, he's used to the cameras being around all the time now, and he gets that people feel like they know them. He gets stopped on the street often enough, even at home, to know that as long as the show's on the air, privacy's going to be as scarce on land as it is on the boat.

He gets that, but that doesn't mean he has to like the idea of wasting an entire afternoon sitting in a stuffy conference room, shaking hands and listening to the older guys tell the same stories he's heard a million times and posing for the same picture over and over and over again. If his father was here he'd have gotten out of it; most people want to meet the captains, after all, and Phil's one of the most popular thanks to his near-death experience. He'd probably eat up the attention, too, if he wasn't too sick to be here.

So Josh is the next best thing, and that means pretending he's having the time of his life when the truth is that he'd rather be shoveling bait at minus 30 than sign one more autograph.

Two chairs down from him Sig's telling the story of the time somebody jumped him and knocked him out on the dock. He always leaves out the part where he started the fight in the first place, just like he leaves out the part about how drunk he was when he started running his mouth. If anybody ever called him on it he'd probably make some excuse about cleaning up the story for the cameras, but everybody knows that's just Sig, so nobody bothers to ask.

Anyway, Josh isn't looking at Sig. When he does glance that way in between fans, it's to catch a glimpse of the person sitting on the far side of Sig. Jake's grinning up at the two women standing in front of him, laughing at something one of them said and now Josh _really_ can't wait to get out of here. Because yeah, he knows it's Jake's job to flirt. Somehow the producers decided that he's some kind of player, and now he's got an image just like Sig's got an image. But that doesn't make it any easier to stomach, especially when Josh knows better.

And really, it would make more sense if they'd cast his brother as 'the player', since all Jake Anderson ever talks about is fishing, and there's no girl that's going to put up with that for long. But Sig likes being in the spotlight, and that means his crew's usually right there with him, whether they like it or not.

Josh swallows the scowl that's threatening to form when some more fans stop in front of him, forcing a smile and answering questions about Phil as vaguely as he can get away with while he signs the pictures they stick in front of him. And it feels like he's been sitting in this damn chair for days instead of hours, but finally the P.A. declares the event over and shuts the doors.

As soon as he can he makes a break for the door near the back of the room, passing the tables of food where most of the 'talent' is still milling around, trading fish stories and enjoying a little off-season limelight. And he doesn't really get that, because they just saw each other last month in Gloucester, and they'll see each other again in Dutch in a few months. Then again, a lot of them flew in for this appearance, so the show's probably putting them up for the night and they've got nothing better to do.

Josh has better things to do, though, and as he turns the next corner he runs right into one of them. "Hey," he says, catching Jake by the arm to steady him. "Sorry."

"No harm done," Jake answers, turning that grin of his on Josh and just like that, all the tension of the last few hours is gone. "Thought we'd never get out of there."

"Tell me about it," Josh says, glancing over his shoulder to make sure they're alone. "If I had to listen to one more of Sig's stories I was going to kill someone."

Jake laughs, eyes sparkling in the dim light and it's all Josh can do not to kiss him right here where anyone could see. "You ready to get out of here?"

Instead of answering Jake nods toward the exit, and Josh falls into step next to him. He's pretty sure they'll hear about it later from the producers, because there are usually promo shots after these events and they're supposed to stick around until someone tells them they can leave. But Jake and Josh aren't really important – at least Josh wouldn't be if it weren't for what's going on with his dad – so no one's going to miss them.

That's what he tells himself as he follows Jake into the lobby of the hotel, carefully avoiding eye contact with any of the staff as they head for the front door. They're almost there when he hears someone calling his name, and Josh winces and glances over his shoulder to find a couple of women who could be his mother bearing down on them.

"Sorry, we know you're probably sick of this by now," one of them says, with a look on her face that tells him she's not really all that sorry.

"My daughter just loves you," the other one gushes as Jake, and Josh has to stop himself from rolling his eyes. "Do you mind if we take a picture?"

For a second Josh isn't sure who she wants a picture of – he's expecting them to hand him the camera so they can squeeze into the shot with Jake – but before he can offer Jake grabs hold of him. "Sure," he says, still flirting like he's getting paid for it, but his hand lands on Josh's hip to tug him close and his fingers dig in just a little and suddenly Josh doesn't mind the interruption.

Instantly Josh's arm slides around Jake's shoulders, and he's pretty sure he's wearing a dopey grin, but he can't get himself to care when Jake's hand is still clamped on his hip. The flash goes off, then again, and Josh is pretty sure he hears Jake asking them to send him a copy on his Myspace account.

"You think those women know enough about the internet to figure out Myspace?" Josh asks after they finally walk away, still giggling.

"If Sig can figure it out, anybody can," Jake answers, grinning when Josh laughs and pushing him toward the door. Josh isn't as sure as Jake is, but he sort of hopes they do figure it out, because he'd like to see that picture. He's pretty sure they both look exhausted and a little stupid, but it's just the two of them for once instead of a picture of the whole cast, so he doesn't much care how they look.

The rest of the guys will notice eventually that they disappeared. Sig will definitely notice that Jake's gone, probably when they all finally make their way toward the bar to relive more highlights from the past fishing season. But by the time anyone misses them, they'll already be back at Jake's place, and with any luck Sig and the others will forget about their little disappearing act before they have to show up for another one of these things.

And even if they don't, Josh gets Jake all to himself for the rest of the night, so he's willing to take his chances.


End file.
